Last name question?

Question

if I have the same last name as someone else does that mean that at some point way back in the day that i was related to them?

Answer 1

possibly

though many european immigrants changed their names and the formal spellings of their names to sound less ethnic

as well, slaves were given the last names of their masters, some changed them with freedom, others did not.

Answer 2

It could.  There would be no way to know for certain unless you actually traced both family trees.  Or by taking a DNA test.

Answer 3

Last names are a relatively new invention and remember that many people took a last name based upon career (Miller, Smith short for Blacksmith, etc.) or location  (Park, Forest, etc.).  Could there have been more than one unrelated Miller?  Definitely!

Answer 4

Not necessarily except perhaps the whole human race is related if you go back 100,000 years.

Most people in Europe did not have a surname until the last melennium.  In England most had one by the end of the 14th century.

Surnames came from a) being the son of someone b) your occupation c) where a person lived d) some characteristic about the person.  When they got through legitimate sons of the same man could each have had a different surname but each could have shared their surname with others with whom they were not related.

Example:  John had 4 sons, Henry, George, Sam and Robert

Henry, if he could write, signed his name Henry son of John.  When he took or was assigned a surname, he became Henry Johnson, Henry Jones or Henry Johns.

George was a baker and became George Baker.  Other occupational names were Taylor, Smith, Cooper, Wright, Barber, Carpenter, Miller, Fisher, Clark(clerk) etc.

Sam you still hear people mentioning him.  He lived on or near a hill and became Sam Hill.  People took the names of the town they lived in or near or the river or the castle.  

Robert had brown hair and became Robert Brown.  Names like Little, Small, Short, Stout, Black, White, Whitehead etc also were characteristic names.

I understand in many cases the same surnames were not passed down in the same family for a couple of more centuries.

In the Netherlands they didn't take theirs until much later.  It was during the reign of Napoleon.  They didn't think it was going to last and in amusement they gave themselves obnoxious and disgusting names.  I understand they had a heck of a time getting those names changed once they realize they would be permanent.